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by Sue Orsen The Victoria Gazette On our trip out west in September to the mountains and deserts of Utah, we found just desserts at every turn. For whatever reason, the various rock formations kept reminding me of sweet food things. In Arches National Park at Moab, I saw large broken pieces of Heath and Milky Way candy bars. In Canyonlands National Park, I saw giant sheet cakes of chocolate and cherry layers. In Bryce National Park I saw monster candy corns squished together; most were solid orange, some had the traditional striping. In Zion National Park I saw huge ice cream sundaes with strawberry swirls and evergreen straws poking out of them. I saw just desserts, no meat and potatoes. Our Delta flight left Minneapolis & St. Paul International Airport at 7 a.m. and we arrived in Salt Lake City at 9:30 a.m. Minnesota Time, which was 8:30 a.m. Mountain Time. I was very tired since the Victoria City Council meeting the night before lasted until almost 10:30 p.m., when I rushed home to finish packing, cleaning up the kitchen, answering emails. We didn't have a window seat on the plane, but I was able to see the Great Salt Lake from on high -- expansive, stretching further than the eye could see. It seemed to me like somebody had pulled the plug and it was draining, leaving behind big barren islands and long stretching shores of salty sand edges. The continuing drought in this southwestern part of the USA is noticeable and taking its toll. Allan tells me there is no outlet to the Great Salt Lake, and that all the water flowing into it brings along chemicals, and the rate of evaporation is greater than the natural rainfall so the salt content increases. The Great Salt Lake is saltier than the ocean but not as salty as the Dead Sea. A 2015 Toyota Corolla was waiting for us at the car rental lot in Salt Lake City, and we then spent the next five hours driving south to Moab, a city that was never before on my map. We could see for miles and miles but never spied a cow or a cowboy. At first, mountains loomed in the distance and then they came up close. At times the steep roadway cliffs were scary and my stomach flipped when we were too near the edges for my comfort. Every now and then, not very often, a gas station was around the bend and we stopped for candy and potato chips, not gas. The Toyota gave us 35 miles to the gallon and that was driving 80 mph, which is their speed limit. Although sparsely populated, the State of Utah has no shortage of super four-lane highways. A couple times we saw an abandoned, dilapidated cattle coral, but the area seems to no longer sustain open range feeding or corals. Our arrival in Moab, population 5,000, brought us back to civilization which means, to me, fast food restaurants, shops, gas stations, a bank, a grocery store. Allan had found the Adobe Abode online. It was built by a husband and wife team specifically to be a Bed and Breakfast. We picked up two chopped chicken salads at Subway and dined on our patio outback, overlooking rough terrain, red mountains, a meandering creek, and perfect sunset. The 4x4, an extreme makeover of a Suburban Chevy, and Dave, its driver, arrived promptly at 8:30 a.m. the next morning for an adventure Allan had also previously arranged online. Dave didn't like that I initially called it a Jeep. It was his own personal all-terrain vehicle in which he invested $100,000. It was total open air, no doors, no roof, no windows except for the windshield, and four-inch wide straps that secured us over our shoulders, around our waists, and through our legs. It gave a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Buckle up."
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October 2015 |
